Case Number 23301: Small Claims Court

FROZEN WORLD: THE STORY OF THE ICE AGE

The Charge

The History Channel presents a collection of shows which will make you wonder
how humans ever managed to make it this far while leaving a bleak outlook for
our collective future.

The Case

Frozen World is a grouping of four documentaries which aired on
History Channel anywhere between 2006-2008, and they're gathered here because of
their shared subject matter: the Ice Age.

* "Clash of the Cavemen" -- This 2008 show is a blend of
documentary and historical re-enactment, and it's actually pretty interesting
stuff. The crux of it is a re-imagining of Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals, and
what may have led to the eradication of Neanderthals.

* "Volcanic Winter" -- This 2008 offering is a terrifying program.
Not for its imagery but rather for the facts presented. A super volcano could
erupt at any time. And it's not if it's when. When it happens the likelihood of
survival is not optimistic, to say the least. There's no planning for it and I
was left reeling with the knowledge I have one more thing to be irrationally
paranoid about.

* "Journey to 10,000 B.C." -- This 2008 program discusses the
extinction of several large mammals at the same time during earth's history and
posits not only the reasons but also how humans were able to escape the same
fate.

* "Mega Freeze" -- The 2006 story deals with climate change, and
is thus the special that the broadest audience can relate to. Details of how
just a few degrees of temperature difference impacts the ecosphere are related,
as well as worst case scenarios based on what's actually happening in the world
right now. Again, another terrifying show.

The visual effects are decent quality CGI and the reenactment footage is
serious if not a little hokey now and then. Sure there is some recycling of
footage here and there but it's hardly so prevalent as to be insulting. The
video levels are in keeping with a show broadcast in the past few years with no
discernible grain or blow outs on either end of the color spectrum. The 2.0
Dolby stereo is pretty outstanding, actually, although the soundtrack and
narration hardly put it through its paces. There are no special features.